It is widely believed that Murcia's name is derived from the Latin words of Myrtea or Murtea, meaning land of Myrtle (the plant is known to grow in the general area), although it may also be a derivation of the word Murtia, which would mean Murtius Village (Murtius was a common Roman name). Other research suggests that it may owe its name to the Latin Murtae (Mulberry), which covered the regional landscape for many centuries. The Latin name eventually changed into the Arabic Mursiya, and then, Murcia.
The city in its present location was founded with the name Medinat Mursiya (city of Murcia) in AD 825 by Abd ar-Rahman II, who was then the emir of Córdoba. Muslims planners, taking advantage of the course of the river Segura, created a complex network of irrigation channels that made the town's agricultural existence prosperous. In the 12th century the traveler and writer Muhammad al-Idrisi described the city of Murcia as populous and strongly fortified. After the fall of the Caliphate of Cordoba in 1031, Murcia passed under the successive rules of the powers seated variously at Almería, Toledo and Seville. After the fall of Almoravide empire, Muhammad Ibn Mardanis made Murcia capital of an independent kingdom. At this time, Murcia was a very prosperous city, famous for its ceramics, exported to Italian towns, as well as for silk and paper industries, the first in Europe. The coinage of Murcia was considered as model in the entire continent. The mystic Ibn Arabi (1165–1240) and the poets Ibn al-Jinan (d.1214) were born in Murcia during this period.
In 1172 Murcia was taken by the Almohades, and from 1223 to 1243 it briefly served as the capital of an independent kingdom. By the treaty of Alcaraz, in 1243, Alfonso X of Castile made Murcia a protectorate, getting access to Mediterrannean sea
